Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Trial set for Gravette man in D.C. riot
A Sept. 6 trial date has been set for Richard “Bigo” Barnett, the Gravette man charged with taking a stun gun into the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and posing for pictures with his foot on a desk in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office suite.
“This trial will take a week, tops,” U. S. District Judge Christopher R. Cooper said in a videoconference court hearing on Feb. 1 in the District of Columbia.
During that hearing, Barnett’s attorney, Joseph McBride, told the court that he was swamped through October with trials of two other high-profile Capitol riot defendants.
Cooper said he would take that under consideration, but he didn’t want Barnett’s trial dragging out until 2023.
On Friday, Cooper issued an order setting Barnett’s trial to begin at 9 a.m. Sept. 6, about a month before the Oct. 3 trial of Christopher Joseph Quaglin, a Capitol riot defendant who is also represented by McBride.
On Feb. 1, Cooper encouraged attorneys on both sides of the Barnett case to discuss a plea agreement.
On Monday, U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan tried to set a trial date for Peter Francis Stager, 42, of Conway, and eight other defendants in his Capitol riot case.
The nine defendants face a multitude of charges, but all nine are charged with engaging in an act of physical violence within the U.S. Capitol building or grounds.
Stager is accused of using a flagpole to beat a police officer who was down on the steps outside the Capitol.
During a videoconference status hearing on Monday, Stager’s attorney, David Benowitz, asked the judge to set a trial date, saying his schedule is filling up fast and he suspected that was the case for the attorneys for other defendants in the case.
“By the time we actually get around to setting a trial date in this case, we’re going to be looking at next year if we don’t do it soon,” Benowitz said. “I would already be looking at mid- to late fall, so I think it makes sense to set a trial date. If you don’t get the case resolved then — it may resolve and it may not. But at this point, with respect to Mr. Stager, I think this case is unlikely to resolve without a trial.”
Sullivan proposed that the trial begin Nov. 30 for all nine defendants. Attorneys for the government said the trial would last at least two weeks.
A couple of attorneys for defendants objected, saying their clients are considering plea bargains.
Sullivan encouraged the attorneys to file any motions they wish. The judge set another status hearing for April 5 but said he was reluctant to wait that long before setting a trial date.
“I know in my heart that if we wait until April and have this same discussion, knowing everyone’s calendar, we’re going to be looking at sometime in March [2023],” said Sullivan. “And for those incarcerated, you know, it’s a major issue.”
Stager remains incarcerated in the District of Columbia jail.
Sullivan said he wouldn’t be shocked if motions to
sever were filed. In that case, there might be more than one trial for the nine defendants charged in Stager’s case.
Four Arkansans have been charged in connection with the breach of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Barnett, 61, and Stager are the only two charged with felonies.
The other two Arkansans, Jon Thomas Mott, 38, of Yellville and Robert Thomas Snow, 78, of Heber Springs, are charged with misdemeanors only. Their trials haven’t been scheduled.
All four Arkansas defendants have pleaded not guilty.
The Jan. 6 riot escalated from a “Stop the Steal” rally in which supporters of former President Donald Trump entered the Capitol and attempted to stop Congress from certifying the Electoral College vote indicating that Joe Biden had won the presidential election.
Hundreds of people have been charged with crimes in connection with the Capitol breach. Trials have been continued several times because of the large amount of discovery in the case, which includes surveillance video and police body-worn camera video.